“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Our annual Parent Information Nights will begin tonight with the Preps and Year 1 and Year 6 are tomorrow night. Years 2, 4 and 5 will be held on Tuesday, February 15th with Year 3 being held on Wednesday, February 16th. These nights are a great opportunity for you to be made aware of what will be happening in your child’s year level for the year.

The Prep children are settling very well into their classroom routines with their individual assessments taking place each Wednesday until the first week in March. These assessments are vital so the teachers can understand the needs and capabilities of each child. It’s also an opportunity for the parents to have a quick chat face to face about their child.

The OSPS Swim Squad has begun their training at Oakleigh Recreation Centre. A big thank you to the staff who give up their time to train the squad before school.

Next Tuesday, there will be a whole school assembly via OSPStv. Our Year 6 leaders will be receiving their badges. As per last year, links to all live streams will be accessible through our OSPStv website at 2.50pm.

https://sites.google.com/education.vic.gov.au/ospstv/home

Finally, our interschool sport is back tomorrow! The Year 6 children will be playing Oakleigh Grammar away. The Year 5’s will be doing sport rotations at school. The children will be involved in a variety of sports, including, volleyball, flag rugby, basketball, softball and cricket.

I hope you all have a great week and get to enjoy this wonderful weather.

Ron Cantlon
Principal

TERM DATES / QR CODE

SCHOOL MATTERS

To book an appointment

You can book at your local GP or pharmacy: https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/booking

You can also book at a family-friendly vaccination centre by calling the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398.

You can also make vaccination centre bookings for your children online, though you will need to use an email address that has not been used in the system before: https://portal.cvms.vic.gov.au/

Helping children to get their vaccination

Vaccination centres understand that children may feel anxious about vaccination or have other support needs. A range of options are available to help children get vaccinated. Please discuss your child’s needs with the vaccination centre when you book an appointment.

Appointments are also available at Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisations.

👉 Find out more about vaccination for kids: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/vaccination-information-children-and-teenagers

COMPASS FOR PARENTS

Thank you to all the parents who have logged in and are using Compass. If you have not yet logged in, please do so, as this is our primary communication platform.

What can Compass do for you?

Using Compass allows you to access up-to-date and meaningful information about our school and your child’s progress. Compass includes many different features, including the ability to:

• Monitor your child’s attendance, and enter an explanation for absence or lateness
• Communicate with your child’s teachers, and update your family contact details
• View your child’s timetable and the school calendar
• Monitor your child’s homework and assessment tasks
• Download and view your child’s progress and semester reports
• Book parent-teacher conferences
• Pay and provide consent for events and school fees Our school will advise parents when each of these features becomes available for parent use.

The following link will take you to the Compass Parent Guide which has step by step instructions and useful navigation tools for you to refer to.

https://cdn.compass.education/knowledgebase/CompassParentGuide.pdf

If you have any questions of issues with Compass – please email 4823-compass@schools.vic.edu.au

SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL and PROCEDURE WHEN SICK STUDENTS ARE SENT HOME

For the health and wellbeing of all our students, staff and community please do NOT send your child to school unwell.

Parents will be called for an immediate pick up for any child displaying symptoms and a recommendation will be for your child to have a COVID test before returning to school. Please e-mail your classroom teacher the negative test results before returning to school.

Runny nose, cough, sore throat, ear ache, temperature, headache, tummy ache, lethargy are all reasons to keep your child at home. Even the slightest of these symptoms.

If your child needs Nurofen or Panadol – they are too sick to come to school.

Those students with asthma, hayfever or allergies must have current plans in place from your doctor. OSPS will work together with families to manage symptoms of these conditions in line with current health advice.

As a friendly reminder, it is mandated that all students Yr 3 – 6 wear a mask whilst indoors at school, unless a mask exemption has been granted. All applications for exemption must be forwarded to Nikki Virtuoso to be processed. Please ensure your child is wearing a mask that is fitted properly over their nose and mouth, and that spares are carried in their bag should they drop, lose, or break their mask. We thank you for your support in keeping all staff, students and families in our community safe.

TUTOR LEARNING INITIATIVE

Tutor Learning Initiative to continue at Oakleigh South Primary School in 2022

Oakleigh South Primary School is delighted to share the news that the Victorian Government is continuing the Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) in 2022. This initiative is designed to address the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning and engagement in Victoria.

The extension of the initiative will allow our school to continue to provide our students who need it most with targeted TLI learning support in the 2022 school year.

Despite the continued challenges Oakleigh South Primary School and schools across Victoria faced in 2021, the TLI has ensured that students, who may have fallen behind or become disengaged, receive the help they need. In 2021, the TLI enabled Victorian government schools, and qualifying non-government schools, to engage over 6,400 teachers as tutors.

Oakleigh South Primary School would like to thank all the tutors, teachers and families who were involved in supporting our TLI program in 2021. This year, Oakleigh South Primary School is able to offer small group learning for students in Years 1-6 during Semester 1 and Prep in Semester 2 in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics.

We look forward to continuing our successful TLI program in 2022 to provide small group learning support that will enable our students to flourish now and in the future.

MEDICATIONS & ACTION PLANS

An urgent reminder to parents that students with medical conditions are required to provide new ASCIA Action Plans and medication to the Office. All Action Plans must be reviewed and signed off by your doctor and have a clear, current photo of the student.

They are a legal requirement, and it is our school policy that they be updated every 12 months.

Having all plans with photos, and medication correctly labelled ensures we comply with the regulations and supports us to administer the correct medication at all times. Your support with this is very important.

If you have any queries, please contact your classroom teacher or the Office.

For copies of ASCIA and Asthma Plans can be found on the school website in under Forms, Event and Year Level Information https://oakleighsouthps.vic.edu.au/news-events/

GATES & CARPARK

Gates 2, 3 and 4 are rostered to be staffed at 8.45am and closed at 9.00am. Gate 1 is open throughout the day to allow for late arrivals and early pickups.

All late arrivals must come through Gate 1 after 9.00am.

All 4 gates are rostered to be staffed 3.30pm – 3.45pm, then locked at 3.45pm.

A reminder to parents and carers are NOT to use the Staff Car Park, or the disabled parks, regardless of the time of day. It is NOT to be used as a quick drop off or collection point.
Please use in the oval car park or on Riley street if you are dropping off or collecting your child throughout the day.

We also urge parents to please remember to be patient and polite when using the Oval Carpark, and be good role models for all the children witnessing their behaviour. With over 900 families, drop off and collection times will be busy and you will need to plan your time accordingly.

The Victorian Government offer a Sports, Camps and Excursions Fund for families who hold a valid means-tested concession card are eligible to apply. A special consideration category also exists.

A payment of $125 for eligible primary school students and $225 for eligible secondary school students will be paid directly to the school to be used toward camps, sports and excursion costs for the student’s benefit.

CSEF payments to schools will commence from 1 March onwards. Schools are able to continue processing applications until the end of Term 2.

Click here for further information CSEF Website

Please click here to apply – https://www.education.vic.gov.au/PAL/csef-application-form.pdf

We are excited to announce that Martin Heppell from The Resilience Project will be attending Oakleigh South Primary on Thursday 24th February, as our presenter for the Resilience Project.

The presentation will run from 6:30pm-8:00pm in the Oakleigh South Primary School Hall. To ensure that we have at least one adult per family attend this very important session, this will be a ticketed event.

Further information and a link for tickets will be sent via Compass in the coming days.

CLASSROOM CUISINE

Classroom Cuisine is a lunch order service offered at OSPS for students on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

For more information please visit Classroom Cuisine and view their menu below.

Classroom Cuisine Menu

LIBRARY NEWS

REMINDER TO STUDENTS AND PARENTS

The library is currently closed before and after school for borrowing due to COVID restrictions. Please remind your child in Years 3 – 6 to reserve their books via the reservations option in the library link available on the school home page. Their login is their AR login, and the password is library.

Children can reserve 2 books. Make sure they are reserving AR books if those are the only books you want them to read.

I will endeavour to get the books to the children as soon as possible.

Sally – Librarian

ANNUAL PRIVACY REMINDER FOR 2022

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Dari
• Gujarati
• Mandarin
• Somali
• Sudanese
• Turkish
• Urdu
• Vietnamese

The school’s privacy collection notice can be found here on our school website – https://oakleighsouthps.vic.edu.au/parents/#policies

MUSIC LESSON AT OAKLEIGH SOUTH PRIMARY SCHOOL

The Music School is again pleased to offer guitar (Friday) and keyboard (Wednesday) lessons after school hours at Oakleigh South Primary School for students in years 1– 6. Please indicate if your child is a continuing student from last year or a new student beginning lessons for the first time in Term 1. Keyboard may also be offered Fridays if Wednesdays book out.

It’s extremely important that you give us your three (3) preferred times in order of most, to least preferred. Sessions will be at 3:30pm, 4pm, 4:30pm, 5pm or 5:30pm. Earliest times will be filled first.

Preference for times is given to continuing students from last year, on a first come first served basis – so please return forms ASAP. Guitar students need their own guitar (we can recommend a suitable instrument), but keyboard students can use the school keyboards. Cost is $17.60 per lesson for all.

Guitar lessons will begin on Friday 11th Feb.
Keyboard lessons will begin Wednesday 9th Feb.
There are 9 lessons in Term 1 and the total cost per student is $158.40. There is a discount for cash and cost is reduced to $150 for this term.

Payment of fees is required within 14 days of the student’s first lesson. As in previous years, fees paid late incur an administration fee of $20.

Please Note:  Some students from last year may have lessons owing due COVID-19. Provision for that will be made on an individual basis. Please let us know if that is the case for your child.

Please access the form below and return to perryv@optusnet.com.au

OSPS 2022 Term 1 Announcement Guitar And Keys A

If you have any questions regarding these music lessons, please contact Perry via email or on 0412 365 515, not the OSPS Office.

STUDENT SHOWCASE

2022 PREP TEAM

Angie:
Mrs Martyn is the proud mum of two adult children, both of whom attended OSPS! She loves reading and working in her garden.  Mrs Martyn has two dogs, who are very badly trained and bark a lot – but she loves them! She enjoys spending time with her extended family, especially her cheeky great nephews!  Mrs Martyn has been teaching a VERY long time and is delighted to be teaching Prep again this year.

Lemone:
Mrs Meyer is a proud mum of her two beautiful children, both of which attend OSPS. Her eldest is in Year 3 and her youngest is in Prep. Since beginning at OSPS in 2006, Mrs Meyer has taught many different year levels as well as the Performing Arts. She loves playing all kinds of sports, attending her dance classes and going to the theatre. Some of her all time favourite shows are Matilda, Singing in the Rain, Mary Poppins, Hamilton and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Nikita:
Miss Collins loves spending her weekends going for walks with her sausage dog called Ziggy and going out for dinners (especially when she can eat lots of pasta). She loves watching the footy and will be going to support the Bombers when the games start again. Miss Collins enjoyed spending some of her holidays in the Northern Territory at Uluru.

Bethany:
Miss Bonham enjoys hiking and dancing on the weekend. Miss Bonham loves sport such as soccer and supports a team called Newcastle United FC. She spends a lot of time reading in her beautiful garden, playing Crash Bandicoot on the PS4 and spending time with her family/friends. Miss Bonham is looking forward the fun year ahead with the Prep students!

PERFORMING ARTS NEWS

OSPS SENIOR CHOIR

Senior Choir will begin after school this week on Thursday. Strict COVIDSafe measures will be implemented during choir.

WHEN: Thursday 10th February

TIME: 3.30 – 4.30

WHERE: In the Hall

WHO: Any students from Years 4, 5 and 6 are welcome.

Choir will run every Thursday afternoon for 2022. There will be time for a drink and snack after 3.30 before singing starts at 3.45. Please bring a mask and enthusiastic voices to the hall after the bell at the end of the school day. We can’t wait to see you there.

Michael Mietzcke and Kelly  Hall

YEAR 4 PRODUCTION 2022

Year 4 are out to save their school with the show X Factory, and will be performed Tuesday 26th & Wednesday 27th July.

PARENT CORNER

PARENT ZONE

ParentZone are delighted to share their newsletter for this term sharing their groups and those of others in the eastern area.

There is also a set of Podcasts which are useful for those parents who are waiting for groups to start, unable to attend or just want another source of parenting support.

Please access the link below to read the Parent Zone Eastern Newsletter and listen to the Podcasts for Term 1 2022.

ParentNewsEast Term 1 2022

OSPS SPORT

After consideration and consultation, if you think your child is ready for State Team selection trials, parents can then Google School Sport Victoria or go to-  http://www.ssv.vic.edu.au/team-vic for more information and should monitor this website for closing dates and relevant information as it is updated. There is also a link to the SSV home page on our Bentleigh District web page.

12 Years and Under Sports Sports include but not limited to:

Australian Football (Boys / Mixed & Girls), Softball, Basketball, Football (Soccer), Hockey, Golf, Netball, Rugby League, Touch Football and Cricket (see SSV site for more details). 

Check the website for all other sports noting some years State Swimming, Cross Country and Athletic Teams can be chosen via external competitions rather than through school-based District / Division/ Region/State Competitions. When nominating your child for more than one sport you should also note that trials for AFL, Soccer, Netball and Basketball may be on the same day eliminating the possibility of going through for more than one mainstream sport.

Marcus Mooney

COMMUNITY NEWS

Disclaimer – The organisations advertised in this newsletter are not affiliated with and have no relationship to Oakleigh South Primary School. The publishing of these advertisements does not imply endorsement or recommendation of these products or services by the school. They are provided as a community service.